A Hylian In The Forest
by LucidityEater
Summary: Link keeps going back, visiting them, the ones he'd never be able to tell the truth to, and he listens no matter how much he wants to talk. Mido does the talking, and Link listens while his fate gags him.


_DragonBos said that Mido sounds like Mido but I'm still sceptical..._

 _See my profile for links to the artworks that inspired this._

 _I like the idea that the Hero of Time can't let go of what he's lost, his home, his childhood, the friends he had, and still wishes that he could be one of them. He's taking a break from his last temple here (the Spirit Temple for me)._

 _Ignore the rubbish about Saria being 'born', I made that up._

* * *

"Saria could sing, y'know."

Mido sat on a tree stump, swinging his legs, the bitterness almost gone from his eyes. His fairy fluttered around his head, and a small green medallion was held in his hand.

"She always sang her song, and she sometimes tried to get someone to play along on her ocarina, but no one could play that well."

Link sat on the ground beside him, his head level with the Kokiri's. His lips were pressed tight, he wanted to say something to his friend, to the person who, while being a pain in the neck, had been a pain in the neck for all his life, until fate decided to call. Something had choked him up, he couldn't speak even if had wanted to, not that he had spoken much before.

Mido looked sadly at the medallion cupped in his palm, his blue eyes allowing a glimpse past the usually gruff façade.

"So Saria's never coming back, huh…" Mido murmured. He took one last glance at the object in his hand – it belonged to Saria, he could feel it. The medallion emitted a faint hum, and he held it out to him like it was somewhat repulsive. "Here's your trinket, mister, I don't think it likes me."

As Link took it from him the hum faded away, and the medallion sat almost contently in the hands of the Hero it had been gifted to.

"Y'know, you remind me of…of him…" Mido turned to face him, his legs ceasing their movement, eyes probing. "And you wear green just like the rest of us."

He shook his head, and he felt a faint rustling in his hair as Navi tried not to tumble around inside his hat. They - the other Kokiri – had seen her, but he was afraid, if they saw her up close, that they would recognise her. He was afraid of what his friends might think of him…no, were they still his friends? Seven years had passed for them even though it was the blink of an eye for him.

"He didn't have a fairy…and we used to tease him about it, and I feel bad now. I told you that if you see him say sorry for me, right?" Mido stared at him, his big blue eyes beseeching like the child he never would be. "We all felt so guilty after he didn't come back…"

Link managed a tight smile, and his gauntleted hand curled into a fist in the grass.

"The Great Deku Tree – that idiot killed him, I know he did, but it doesn't seem right – yeah, the Tree told us that if we ever tried to leave we'd die…and I didn't want him to die." Mido kicked his feet up. "I remember when he was a baby, chubby little Baba spawn, he was, and he'd throw a fit and toss his food everywhere on the ground. I'd have to clean it up, and the twins would laugh at me because I couldn't take care of a baby."

Navi let out a tiny giggle, and Link gave a jerk of his head to quiet her. She muttered 'jerk' under her breath and stilled.

"We'd take turns trying to look after him, and Saria, she came soon after, so we had two new Kokiri."

He fell into silence, and Navi went to tugging at Link's hair. She wanted out of his smelly hat.

Link shook his head again, and his hat almost sailed off with the force. He grasped it tightly and fell back against the grass, letting out a sigh. The sky still had that ever-present haze to it, and floating lights sailed above him, looping this way and that. The rush of the waterfall filled his ears with calm and his head with memories – it was just yesterday that he fell from his bed, nightmares spinning around inside his mind, and a fairy bobbing around in his house – his fairy! His very own fairy!

He closed his eyes, and the light brightened and dimmed whenever an orb drifted past. It had been the best day of his life, gaining a fairy, now he would always fit in. Then the Great Deku Tree had tasked him with saving first its life and then a world he never even knew existed – a world he apparently was a part of, but he never would think that. He might be Hylian in body but that innocent laughter of forest children and the chiming voices of fairies would always be his home.

He shifted his legs, legs that were too long for him, and hands too big, and a body too tall. He was an adult now, old enough to wield the Master Sword, at least it wasn't as tall as him anymore. But his mind hadn't aged – he was glad for that. Seven years gone by in a sleep, and sleep was never noticed, especially a dreamless one.

Seven years and he was changed, and they – his family – didn't even recognise him. He remembered being too frightened to come back, to see what had become of his home, but he managed to push out of the fear, out of necessity, and found a place overrun with monsters.

He remembered hearing 'Hey mister, you look familiar', and staring down, down, always looking down at people who seemed so _small_. Were they really that small? Is this what adults saw children as, insignificant little nothings with no power of their own?

He sat up again, and the light blasted into his just-opened eyes, burning like the poison at the bottom of the Royal Crypt. He shaded his face and gazed around at the Kokiri, at his friends, at his childhood friends, he was grown up now.

At first, he didn't want to come back after finding Saria, but he had to, they dragged him back here, he was forever trapped by their immortality. He would have to leave them, forever, and he didn't want to go.

He had stood, or sat, and listened if they wanted to talk, prompted them to talk with an expectant look and an eager nod. They didn't know what to make of the man in their midst, sure, he had driven off the monsters, but he never talked, not a word was let out of his mouth, and there was something about him…

His mannerisms were too familiar; he'd prod the ground with his boots the same way, adjust his tunic the same way, even, when his sword was in hand, twirl it and give the exact same battle cry as he did. But he wasn't him, that boy was dead, here was a grown man in front of them with a too-steady gaze and lips pressed tight, that boy would never come back.

But he kept visiting, and soon they had opened up, they'd talk, and he'd listen, like he always had, and he'd try his best not to shout at them, not to yell out _I'm here, I'm back, it's me!_ But he couldn't, and fate would tug at his shoulders as their words would tug at his heart.

Mido liked him. At first he didn't trust him, but he just had to play that song and yes, you're my friend because Saria knows you. And then the words spilled out, an apology, a confession, and Link would kneel, his hand hovering just above his friend's shoulder as he wept, too scared to touch him.

Since then, whenever he paid a visit, Mido would talk to him, about the Kokiri, about Saria, about the boy with no fairy and the day the Great Deku Tree died. All because he felt like he knew this man who looked so familiar, who acted just like the friend he wished he hadn't pushed away.

"Hey mister," Mido said, pushing himself off the tree stump and settling down beside him, "you never told me your name."

Link stared at him, dumbfounded, and hot tears welled up in his eyes – _tell him! Tell them!_ He hid his face as they spilled down his cheeks and landed in his lap – he couldn't see anymore, the lights were blurry, and Mido's concerned face was slowly fading out of sight.

Navi's wings battered the side of his hat, and he heard her voice, worried but level-headed as she tried to calm him.

"Whoa, mister, I didn't mean – mister, please stop crying. Mister, please." Mido grabbed his shoulder, and Link's body shook with sobs and he choked on the words that blocked his throat and never came out. His hands curled into fists, they weren't his hands, they belonged to the Hero who owned this body, to the adult he'd be in seven years but seven years had already gone.

"Hey, hey c'mon, let's wash your face, huh?" Mido tugged on his shoulder. "C'mon, up."

He shakily stood, hands in their gauntlets trembling, and allowed himself to be led to the stream that the waterfall fed. He wiped his eyes and kept his gaze on his boots as the others stared at his tear-streaked face, wondering why the Hylian with his steady gaze and sword at his back was crying for no reason.

"Wash your face," Mido told him, and he crouched down. He cupped some water in his hands and splashed his face, struggling to control his breathing. He was about to stand when a hefty kick to his rear sent him flying into the water with a tremendous splash and a loud yell.

He spluttered and thrashed, trying not to drown, then remembered that he was tall enough to stand with his head above water. He made it to his feet and glared at Mido through the water dripping into his eyes, but a grin crept onto his face and he started to laugh.

Mido grinned back at him, hands on hips like he always stood. "That cheered you up good, didn't it, Mister No-Fairy?"

His eyes widened and he frantically looked around. His hat lay at the bottom of the stream, and Navi floated around his head, laughing.


End file.
